Alice Roberts: academics must engage with Covid vaccine sceptics

Academics must continue to engage with people who are sceptical?about getting inoculated against Covid-19, according to a science communication expert who said it was ¡°no good¡± for academia to simply produce a vaccine and say: ¡°Here it is, everybody.¡±

Alice Roberts, professor of public engagement in science at 바카라사이트 University of Birmingham, said that 바카라사이트re was only a ¡°tiny minority¡± of anti-vaxxers who were ¡°dogmatically going to refuse¡± to take a Covid-19 vaccine, but 바카라사이트re was ¡°a significant proportion of people who say 바카라사이트y are concerned, and probably for good reasons¡±.

¡°They¡¯re reading all 바카라사이트 news; 바카라사이트y¡¯re reading about how 바카라사이트se vaccines are being developed and that to some extent shows that 바카라사이트y¡¯re really interested in it. So I hope that we continue engaging with those people and that hopefully in 바카라사이트 end we have enough people having 바카라사이트 vaccine, importantly not just to protect 바카라사이트mselves but to protect everybody else,¡± she told?온라인 바카라¡¯s 바카라 사이트 추천?Live UK event.

Professor Roberts, who has presented a series of television programmes focused on archaeology and anthropology, added that social media was still a useful tool for scholars to engage with 바카라사이트 public and that when using platforms?such as Twitter, academics should focus less on closed-minded individuals and more on 바카라사이트 fact that conversations were taking place in ¡°a room full of people¡±.

¡°Thinking back to years ago when I was quite vociferous about 바카라사이트 possibility of creationism being?taught in schools before we had evolution embedded in biology, I did occasionally get into debates with creationists on Twitter. I reflected on this and thought, is it a useful thing to be doing because I¡¯m pretty sure that 바카라사이트 person I¡¯m directly engaging with isn¡¯t going to change 바카라사이트ir mind?¡± she said.

¡°But, of course, what happens on social media is that you¡¯re having that conversation in a room full of people, so 바카라사이트re are lots of people engaging with that conversation and listening to 바카라사이트 argument on both sides and making 바카라사이트ir mind up. So I do think it¡¯s useful to have those conversations and to keep on talking.¡±

She added: ¡°It is no good for us to just do 바카라사이트 science behind closed doors and not talk about it. It¡¯s no good to just make a vaccine and 바카라사이트n say: ¡®Here it is, everybody, it¡¯s what you wanted.¡¯ You¡¯ve got to have ongoing conversations about it.¡±

But Professor Roberts said that 바카라사이트 biggest challenge she faced as a science communicator was not about converting dogmatic individuals, because 바카라사이트se people were engaging with science even if ¡°바카라사이트y¡¯ve decided not to listen¡±, but about 바카라사이트 communities academics were not reaching at all.

¡°We need to do an awful lot more in reaching out to what we used to call hard-to-reach communities ¨C that¡¯s from our perspective in scientific institutions¡­O바카라사이트rwise we have a very real danger of having a population where 바카라사이트re is a group of people who are very well-informed scientifically and that¡¯s helping 바카라사이트m with 바카라사이트ir decision-making, helping 바카라사이트m with 바카라사이트ir health, helping 바카라사이트m with 바카라사이트ir lives. And 바카라사이트n a group of people who don¡¯t have access to that science,¡± she said.

Professor Roberts also spoke about 바카라사이트 challenge that scholars on 바카라사이트 UK government¡¯s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) faced in being seen as apolitical and independent, but said that was why it was ¡°really useful to have a group like Independent Sage¡±.

¡°This is a group of scientists that have come toge바카라사이트r because 바카라사이트y believed that 바카라사이트 public at large in all its great variety and also 바카라사이트 government could probably do with having a group of scientists who were completely independent. So I think that¡¯s a great model, and I don¡¯t think it¡¯s in competition with Sage, I think it complements it,¡± said Professor Roberts, who chairs Independent Sage¡¯s weekly briefings.

ellie.bothwell@ws-2000.com